Retail Sales Increase In December

Retail sales increased 0.5 per cent to $62.1 billion in December 2022 versus November. Sales were up in seven of 11 subsectors, representing 75.1 per cent of retail trade, says Statistics Canada. Retail sales increased in four provinces for December, led by higher sales in Ontario which saw an increase of 0.9 per cent to $22.6 million for the reporting period over $22.4 million for November. The census metropolitan area (CMA) of Toronto, ON, saw an increase in sales of 0.4 per cent and had sales of $9.7 million for the month. The largest provincial decline for sales in December was in British Columbia at 1.1 per cent. By industry segment, retail sales for building material, garden equipment, and supplies decreased 3.8 per cent in December to $3.79 million, compared to $3.94 million for the previous month. On an unadjusted basis, retail eCommerce sales were down 1.6 per cent at $4.42 billion from $4.5 billion in November, accounting for 6.5 per cent of total retail trade. The share of eCommerce sales out of total retail sales in December fell 0.2 percentage points from November.